Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data networks, and more particularly, to a data network being programmed using user defined objects.
Description of the Related Art
In a typical network deployment scenario, a company, such as a service provider or a corporation, constructs a data network by purchasing or leasing one or more network devices, connecting the devices with each other and to servers and gateways, and configuring the devices to reflect the network design. The data network is controlled and operated by the company. The company may use the data network to serve its clients or internal business divisions. For example, a web hosting service provider hosts websites for its clients and allows the clients' data traffic to be processed by the data network. Often times, the company also provides servers such as web servers or video servers to serve the clients.
Though it is common for a service provider to allow the clients to download and to run client software on the provided servers, it is not possible for the clients to download client software or instructions onto the network devices within the data network. This limitation presents issues to the service provider as well as the clients. As there are many clients and each client has different needs, it is impossible for the service provider to offer a one-size-fits-all or a gold-silver-bronze type of network service policy to accommodate many client needs in the data network. Clients, on the other hand, want to operate their own software, policies, and configuration and control of network resources that they lease from the service provider. All in all, both parties have a common desire to open up the data network so that a client can download client software directly to the network devices and so that the service provider can offer a better business experience to satisfy clients' needs.
It should be apparent from the foregoing that there is a need to provide a method to program a network device with user defined instruction scripts.